KKR-backed financial services group Avendus Capital on Thursday announced that it has hit the first close of its third fund with $98 million (Rs 850 crore) in capital commitments.
Registered as a category-II alternative investment fund (AIF) with market regulator SEBI, the Avendus Future Leaders Fund III (FLF III) is targeting a corpus of Rs 1,500 crore, with an additional greenshoe option of Rs 1,500 crore, per a company statement.
The fund plans to make 12-14 investments, with an average ticket size of Rs 150–300 crore, in sectors such as financial services, healthcare, technology, consumer goods, and manufacturing, the statement added.
“The commitment to date for FLF III is a testament to the enduring trust our investors place in the strength of FLF’s investment strategy and its team, and in Avendus’s leadership in this space. This milestone also highlights the significant demand for late-stage private equity as a core component of a balanced alternates portfolio,” said Ritesh Chandra, Managing Partner, Avendus Future Leaders Fund.
Across its predecessor funds, Avendus manages assets of over Rs 1,850 crore. Its second fund closed in 2022 at $200 million. Before that, Avendus had raised about $50 million for Fund I in 2019 to bet on India’s new economy sectors. The fund’s investments include both primary transactions and secondaries.
FLF I and II portfolio companies include Lenskart, Bikaji, Juspay, SBI General Insurance, and Sagility Technologies, among others. FLF I has returned over 100% of investor capital within four years, while FLF II has recently been fully deployed, the company said.
Meanwhile, FLF III is in the process of finalising its first investment in the healthcare sector.
Established in 1999 in Mumbai, Avendus Group is a financial services firm with a presence in investment banking, institutional equities, wealth management, credit solutions and asset management. KKR acquired a majority stake in Avendus Group in 2015. The company is currently present in 10 cities across India, the US, and Singapore.
